My Favourite Miso

Simmering.  Pre-miso.

As October and VeganMoFo come to a close, I find myself a bit under the weather.  Not lying-in-bed-moaning under the weather, but stuffy-head-and-sore-throat under the weather.  The kind you treat with hot toddies and warm, comforting soup.  Miso soup, to be exact.  Let's make some.

The first thing I do is simmer some veg in a pot of water.  Any of the following is pretty good:

• broccoli
• carrot
• onion
• cabbage or kale
• mange tout (pea pods)
• baby corn
• leek
• mushrooms (any sort will do), black fungus, or something along those lines

This is the miso paste I use.  It's frosty because I store it in the freezer.

Then to bulk up the soup a little, I add one or more of the following:

• tofu
• bean curd sheets, strips, or twists
• (fresh or frozen) peas, broad beans, or edamame beans 
• other kinds of beans (garbanzos work especially well)
• rice, buckwheat (soba), or some other kind of noodles
• quinoa or rice

To add different flavours to the soup, I add one or more of the following:

• wakame or kelp/kombu or another kind of seaweed
• toasted sesame oil
• a pinch of cayenne, dried chili pepper, or sliced fresh hot pepper
• lemongrass
• ginger or galangal
• kaffir lime leaves
• tamarind, orange juice, or cider vinegar (if I fancy sour soup)

This is how I serve it to the kids.

Let everything simmer until the veggies are al dente.  Then turn off the pot and add some miso paste.  I like to scoop smear it along the inside of the pot -- this is the easiest way for me to get it to dissolve without clumping.  At this point, I taste the broth.  I add a wee glug of soy sauce (use tamari if you are GF) and maybe a little more miso paste.

Then I dish everything up and generously sprinkle the soup with chopped green onions before serving.  My kids aren't very good with broth, so I give them a generous serving of everything else.




Bye-bye, VeganMoFo 2011, it's been real, yo.